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Inside Visual Studio Tools for Apache Cordova CTP 3.1

Testing Visual Studio 2015 CTP 6? You've got the latest tools for debugging Apache Cordova apps on Windows Phone 8.1.

While Apache Cordova support might seem to be a minor footnote feature in the announcement a few weeks ago of the release of Visual Studio 2015 CTP 6, Microsoft Program Manager Kirupa Chinnathambi with the Visual Studio Client Team blogged about it and offered up a video presentation with more detail on the feature set.

Apache Cordova is an open source cross-platform mobile application building toolkit that's popular with developers because it allows for minimal app building using HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

One of the important features of the Visual Studio Tools for Apache Cordova CTP 3.1 update is the ability to debug Apache Cordova apps targeted for Windows Phone 8.1 devices, which essentially is an expansion of the breadth of debugging capabilities (it's already capable of debugging Android 4.x, iOS 6, and Window Phone 8 and Windows Store 8 apps). Writes Chinnathambi: "Across all of these platforms, you can set breakpoints, inspect variables, use the console, and perform all the various other debugging tasks to help you find issues quickly."

CTP 3.1 also brings support up to Cordova version 4.1.2, which itself includes improved iOS 6 and Windows Phone support. It also speeds up performance when meshing with local plug-ins, which Chinnathambi said was a point of emphasis for the team over the last year. He also said that build and packaging projects for deployment should be more reliable with the update, particularly with issues some developers had when moving among platforms. And, finally, he talked about improved support for the Ripple emulator alternative, which addresses mainly reliability issues.

Get details and download Visual Studio Tools for Apache Cordova CTP 3.1.

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